Introduction

Biography

Benjamin was the son of Sam­uel Roe and Cyn­tha Greer, and hus­band of Eva Em­ma­line Ste­vens.

He was edu­cat­ed in the pub­lic schools and at De­ca­tur Col­lege, De­ca­tur, Tex­as, and joined the Bap­tist church in 1899. After gra­du­ation, he taught li­ter­ary school for sev­er­al years.

He be­gan stu­dy­ing mu­sic at age 16, and in 1900 at­tend­ed his first nor­mal, taught by Ru­fus H. Cor­ne­li­us. In 1901, he at­tend­ed a ses­sion of An­th­ony Sho­wal­ter’s South­ern Nor­mal Mu­sic­al In­sti­tute (SNMI) at Child­ress, Tex­as.

The same year, he at­tend­ed an­oth­er ses­sion of Cor­ne­li­us’ nor­mal school and re­ceived a di­plo­ma. Roe at­tend­ed the SNMI again in No­vem­ber 1901 in Al­vord, Tex­as, and re­ceived an­oth­er di­plo­ma. He took a post-gra­du­ate SNMI course in 1902 in Ste­phen­ville, Tex­as.

Also in 1901, Roe be­came a stock­hold­er in the Sho­wal­ter-Pat­ton Com­pa­ny. He was liv­ing in De­ca­tur, Tex­as, as of 1904.

Roe taught school in Wise and Mon­ta­gue Coun­ties, Tex­as, and was su­per­in­tend­ent of Wise Coun­ty schools for eight years be­fore re­tir­ing.

Works

• Hymns of Glo­ry, co-au­thor